


Why Can't We Have Nice Things?

by RainbowArches



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Developing Relationship, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 12:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4305825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowArches/pseuds/RainbowArches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The hard part is getting everyone to stay put.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Can't We Have Nice Things?

Laura’s phone buzzed on the counter. She picked it up and read the text, wishing her resentment would win the battle against the automatic warm and fuzzy feelings just once. But she had to smile, out of relief in nothing else. She had no choice but to smile. At least she could choose not to fix up a plate of snacks like she might normally have done, even if it felt petty. He could feed himself this time. She texted a reply and went to the barn.

Nick was sitting on the ground, leaning against the tractor.

“We have a back door,” Laura said. “You could have come into the house.”

“It’s easier to make an entrance in here,” Nick said.

Laura nodded, and looked around at the big, dark, dusty old barn, nothing but rusty, broken equipment and hay lying around, and the big dead tractor that Nick was resting against. She looked down at Nick, who looked like he'd long since gotten used to sleeping rough.

A snuffling sound came from underneath the tractor and Lucky poked his head out, sniffing around. The dog crawled out and flopped tiredly against Nick’s leg.

Nick smiled and scratched Lucky’s head. “Has Clint built him a doghouse yet?”

“He doesn’t need a dog house.”

Lucky growled happily as Nick scratched, his one eye drifting shut.

“I know you’re not here because you missed me, so what do you need?”

“I always miss you,” said Nick, standing up and dusting himself off. He held is arms out and waited until Laura relented and stepped into the hug. She wanted to leave him hanging, wanted him to know that just because she understood didn’t mean she was happy, but affection won out and she melted into his chest, breathing him in. Nick wasn’t trying to be mean, and Laura simply didn’t know how. Besides, they hadn’t seen each other in too long to start fighting now. It had always been too long to start fighting.

“I wish you’d check in once in a while.”

“I know.” He stepped back. “I need to talk to Tony.”

 

Natasha had come up to Clint and Laura’s room to take a nap, but sleep wasn’t coming. Instead she just lied there with her eyes closed. The bed smelled like Laura’s shampoo, though now it probably smelled like Natasha's sweaty clothes and unwashed hair. Clint's trace was faint, but at least it was there. She always felt bad when they came back and she found that Clint had been away so long he was completely absent from the bed. 

She opened her eyes and looked around at the pictures propped on the dressers and the drawings taped to the walls. She rolled over and stared at the clock on the bedside table.

The door open and closed and Laura crawled in next to her.

“What shape are we in this time?” Laura asked.

Natasha shrugged. “Doesn’t look good, but it never does and we always win.”

“Any casualties?”

“A few.”

Laura rested her hand on Natasha’s and yawned. The two of them often used the bed to talk, but the last twenty-four hours had been exhausting and they were ready to skip straight to the nap.

“Think they can manage without us for a few minutes?”

 “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

 

Clint heard from Natasha that Nick was still alive _after_ Nick had already left for Europe. Clint tracked him down and was having lunch with him before he remembered to let Laura know where he was. The plan was Clint would help Nick take out the last of Hydra, but after Laura heard the whole story she’d told him _Get home now! Bring the idiot with you!_

So Clint took Nick to the farm where he’d been put to bed and banished there the next few weeks. He only stayed put for three days, during which he mostly just slept, and then he was trying to be on his way.

“What are you afraid’s going to happen if you stayed for a while?” Clint asked him while they kicked a ball around with the kids. He didn’t normally pester Nick about this stuff the way Laura did. He understood the anxiety that probably crept up on Nick when he left SHIELD alone for too long. It was the same kind Clint got when he was away from the farm. But he was concerned Nick had nearly died, SHIELD had collapsed, and there were people taking care of Hydra for him, and he _still_ couldn’t take a break.

“I’m afraid the world’s going to blow up,” Nick said.

Cooper and Lila laughed.

 

“Seriously though, why don’t you ever stay?” Clint asked after the kids had gone to bed. Laura had gone to bed too and he and Nick were doing the dishes.

“Same reason you don’t. I have a job to do.”

“Yeah, but I come back when the job’s done, whereas you…” Clint trailed off and scrubbed blindly at the plate. He’d overloaded the sink with soap and he couldn’t see underneath all the bubbles. He rinsed it off and passed it to Nick for him to dry. Nick was steering clear of the sink; Clint had overloaded it with water too, and it splashed onto his shirt and the floor every time he scrubbed too hard.

“What does it matter if I come back or not? I’m not the husband or the dad or the…” Nick gestured irritably around them, tea towel bunched in his hand. “Carpenter. I’m not needed here. I’m needed out there.” He put the plate in the cupboard to join the others.

“We get that. It’s not a question of us _needing_ you here.”

Nick frowned, but didn’t push it, so Clint didn’t either.

 

The night Nick volunteered to put Lila to bed ranked as one of his top five most severe lapses in judgement. He had counted on a bedtime story and a glass of water, not three glasses of water and five bedtime stories. And of course there was the whole ordeal beforehand of wrestling her into her pajamas and convincing her to brush her teeth. And then she wanted him to take her to the bathroom because she was scared of the dark. And then she wanted another bedtime story and a cookie, which meant she had to brush her teeth again. And they spent fifteen minutes looking for her rabbit, which was supposed to help her sleep but obviously he’d been tricked. He fell asleep in the chair next to her bed. When he woke up she was asleep on the floor amidst her crayons and coloring books, the flashlight making the room glow blue. Nick considered lifting her into bed, but didn’t want to wake her up so he draped a blanket over her and went to his own bed.

Clint and Laura, who Nick had assumed slept through the whole adventure since neither had offered to help, crawled in one either side of him.

“Read me a story,” Clint said.

“Can I have a cookie?” Laura said.

“I hate you both.”

Clint and Laura laughed and fell asleep almost immediately. The bed wasn’t big enough for the three of them, and Nick wondered why they felt the need to crawl in with him other than to make fun of him. But they were pressed tightly against his sides, Clint’s arm around his waist and Laura’s arm over his chest, to make it big enough. It wasn’t the most comfortable arrangement but there was no way he was getting out of bed without waking them up, so he folded his arms underneath his head and went to sleep.

It took some careful maneuvering in the morning, but Nick managed to ease himself out of bed without waking the other two. His back and shoulders made popping noises as he stretched. He supposed he didn’t mind being their security blanket or whatever they had been using him as, but they really needed to get a bigger guest bed.

 

Nick couldn’t sleep the next night. He sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea. Coulson hadn’t been in touch with him yet. He wondered how he was doing with his new job. He wondered how rapidly Hydra was growing while Nick was laid up and Coulson got his bases sorted out. He wondered what Natasha was up to, if she was still mad at him. He wondered if Steve still had a death wish. He wondered if Peggy heard what happened to SHIELD and what she’d say to him if he saw her. He wondered if Sitwell was back on his feet yet, if he’d be joining them or retiring early. He wondered if it really made a difference if he stayed here or not.

Laura appeared in the doorway.

“Come to bed.”

Nick followed her upstairs, letting her lead him by the hand, unsure if they were going to stop at the guest room or if she was going to pull him into her room.

They ended up in her room. She waited for him to get in first. Clint shifted closer as soon as he did, and Laura crawled in on his other side. This bed was a little bigger, a little easier to fit three people in.

“I really need to head out soon,” he said.

Clint lifted himself up on one elbow, leaned over Nick and kissed him.

Nick wasn’t surprised. He’d had a feeling that this was what they’d been angling for. Not just the last couple weeks; it had been a lot longer than that. They’d been waiting for the right time. Nick wasn’t opposed to the idea. He loved them and their kids and their farm and their whole setup, and he'd love to be a part of it.

But even as he kissed Clint back, and wrapped an arm around Laura’s waist as she pressed kisses to his cheek and his temple, he wasn’t sure this was the right time. He wasn’t sure there’d ever be a right time. He didn’t say that to them though. Clint bent his head down to kiss Nick’s neck.

“You still want to be here, right?” Laura asked.

“Yes.”

“Will you stay?”

Nick pushed her hair out of the way and kissed her. “Just for a little while.”

She looked disappointed, but she let him kiss her again.

They didn’t go further than that. They fell asleep, Clint’s hand in Nick’s shirt and Nick’s hand in Laura’s hair. The sun was making the barest appearance when Nick left.

 

The new Avengers team was shaping up well. It was nice to have a permanent base again, some semblance of stability. He could probably retire right now, let Maria take the helm while Steve and Natasha got everything running, and Coulson kept Hydra at bay. He wouldn’t retire, obviously, but he could. At the very least he could go without a fight with Natasha to Clint and Laura’s farm and stay there for a week or so, without worrying.

“What is he grinning at?” Natasha asked, watching Nathaniel in amusement as he gripped Nick’s thumbs and bounced gently, drooling on himself.

“He’s just a happy baby,” Laura said fondly.

“All the time? Must be nice.” She crawled over to the baby and tickled him. “You have no idea how silly you look, do you?” she cooed.

He giggled.

 

Natasha hadn’t been sleeping well lately and she didn’t know why. It wasn’t nightmares. She just couldn’t fall asleep. It probably had something to do with Bruce; guilt, regret, something like that.

She paused at Clint and Laura’s door, considered crawling in with them. She usually waited until they invited her, but they’d said she was always welcome. Her fingers rested on the doorknob.

The bedsprings creaked once as someone inside shifted. She kept on down the hallway until she got to Nick’s room. She peered inside.

Nick was a light sleeper. She’d probably woken him just by standing there. If he was awake he didn’t let on.

She crept over and climbed into bed next to him. Without opening his eyes, he pulled the blanket over her waist and held his arm out. She rolled closer to him, her back to his chest, and his arm settled snugly around her. She still didn’t sleep, but she relaxed.

 

“Do you think they’re okay?’ Laura asked.

Clint yawned. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“I don’t know. Nick said he’d fucked it up.”

“Oh. Can’t have been that bad, then.”

“Guess not.”

 

The next night Natasha was already in Nick’s bed when he got there. He paused at the doorway briefly. He lifted her head up to look at him. He continued as if she hadn’t thrown him, slipping out of his clothes and into his pajamas- that’s what he called boxers and a tank top, no matter how much Laura insisted otherwise- and crawled into bed, facing away from her.

“Why don’t you like it here?” she asked after a while.

Nick frowned. “I love it here.”

“Why are you always in a hurry to leave?”

Nick sighed and didn’t answer for a long time. “Because I don’t want to ruin it.”

“I was afraid of that too at first. But they kept inviting me back here. And I realised, if they can trust me not to ruin it, then I’m probably not going to ruin it.”

Natasha curled up against his back and pressed her legs to his. Nick had to clench to keep from jumping away. Natasha’s legs were bare and freezing. She pulled away slightly. “Sorry.”

Nick turned around and pulled her close again.

“I missed you,” she said.

“I’m sorry.”

Natasha lightly ran her fingers over his chin, until he tilted his head down and kissed her.

 

“Natasha and I have to head out tomorrow, but we’ll probably have a free weekend early next month.”

“We’ll look forward to it.”

It was late. The kids were sound asleep, so Laura and Natasha had taken the opportunity to fill the bathtub with bubbles and bath salts and enjoy some quiet time alone together. Then Clint and Nick decided they were missing out and piled into the bathroom with them. Clint was currently working on plans for a bathtub that could fit all four of them. They’d already moved one of the guest beds to the master bedroom as a temporary fix-it until they found a mattress big enough for the four of them.

“You’re thinking up more renovations, aren’t you?” Laura said, poking Clint’s head.

“Nothing major,” he assured her. “I’m just thinking we need a bigger tub. And I want to build us a new bed.”

“I want to help,” Nick said.

“Alright,” Laura said. “Bed and bath, but that’s it. That’s all we need.”

They were interrupted by Nathaniel, who could be heard starting to whine from the nursery.

“Well, someone get up before he wakes the other two,” Laura said.

Clint sighed. “I got him.”

He appeared in the doorway with the baby a few minutes later. “I think he’s hungry.”

“You’re killing me kid,” Laura said, standing up and wrapping herself in her bathrobe. She put the toilet lid down and sat down to feed the baby. Clint looked longingly at her vacated spot in the tub.

“Go ahead.”

“Yay!”

Clint climbed out of his pajamas and into the tub. Natasha splashed him.

“Laura, Natasha’s being mean.”

“Ha ha.”

After Laura put the baby back to bed they decided it was time for them to turn in too. Sleeping was easier now that everyone had secured a place for themselves here. Everyone piled easily into bed, preferring to squish themselves together now that they had the extra space. And if one or two of them disappeared before the others woke up, that wasn’t so bad now, after everyone had promised to always come back.


End file.
